Weekly Torah Portion: Vayeitze (Genesis 28:10−32:3)
In this Torah portion, Jacob has a dream with angels going up and down a ladder from earth to heaven. God appears before Jacob, renewing the covenant that God had made with Abraham. Jacob sees Rachel, Laban’s daughter, tending to sheep and wishes to marry her. Laban tricks Jacob into marrying his eldest daughter, Leah, after seven years of labor. In exchange for another seven years of work, Jacob is allowed to marry Rachel. Jacob has many sons with Leah, but Rachel is unable to conceive. Finally, God blesses Rachel, and she has a son, whom she names Joseph. Read an extensive summary on My Jewish Learning
Related D’var Torah
“World AIDS Day [that’s coming up] is a day to remember — to remember the history of AIDS and to remember that this plague is not yet over.” – Rabbi Lisa Edwards in 2014. Read the full drash
“What can we draw from this parashah filled with the passion, the love, the yearning of a lifetime?” – Michael Main in 2000. Read the full drash
Torah Verse of the Week*
“Jacob went on his way, and angels of God met him.” (Parashat Vayetzei; Genesis 32:2)
Other Suggested Readings
“My name is Leah. There is a music to the sound that I have grown to like, and I have come to associate my name with my individual qualities. But, it wasn’t always that way. When I was in preschool, around age 4, the children in my neighborhood made fun of my name.” Read from Leah Zimmerman’s blog, “Experiencing Torah”
God Was In This Place And I Did Not Know: Jacob’s response to his dream provides us with two models of discovering God’s presence’ by David Elcott. Read from our Telephone Torah Study archives
“The wilderness where Jacob lay dreaming has always been filled with the presence of God—the power and the potential for change that exists in every place.” – Rabbi Eliott Kukla. Read the full article on American Jewish World Service
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*Torah Verse of the Week is chosen by the Torah class during Tuesdays’ studies with Rabbi Lisa Edwards. Check out when our next Torah Study takes place
